Pain Management in Nursing Home Residents: Results from the INCUR Study

• Published in: The Journal of nutrition, health & aging health & aging, 2020-07, Vol.24 (9), p.1019-1022
• Main Authors: Nunziata, V, Proietti, M, Saporiti, E, Calcaterra, L, Rolland, Y, Vellas, B, Cesari, M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged, 80 and over; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Humans; Life Sciences; Male; Nursing Homes - standards; Pain - drug therapy; Pain Management - methods; Quality of Life - psychology; Retrospective Studies; Santé publique et épidémiologie
• ISSN: 1279-7707; 1760-4788
• DOI: 10.1007/s12603-020-1443-z

Pain is very common among older persons living in nursing home, affecting 45% to 80% of residents, interfering with daily activities and quality of life. Aims of the study are: 1) to measure the analgesics non-prescription in nursing home residents who present pain symptoms; 2) to identify the main determinants of analgesics non-prescription. Retrospective cross-sectional analysis. Data from an observational study ('Incidence of pNeumonia and related ConseqUences in nursing home Residents' [INCUR] study). 800 older persons living in 13 French nursing homes. Measurments: Pain symptoms were definied by one of the following criteria: i) Presence of pain affecting the individual's function in the Activities of Daily Living; ii) Presence of daily pain, and/or; iii) Severe pain measured with a visual analogue scale. Among the patients originally included in the study, 288 (36%) reported pain symptomatology (mean age 86.9 [SD 7.2] years, 220 (76%) participants women). Amongst these, 138 (47.9%) were treated with non-opioid analgesic drugs, 52 (18.1%) with opioids, and 98 (34%) did not receive any analgesic prescription. An adjusted logistic regression analysis found that the strongest determinant of analgesics non-prescription was the number of concomitantly prescribed drugs (p